Exposing the underbelly of Armstrongism in all of its wacky glory! Nothing you read here is made up. Every crazy, weird and wacky quote is straight from the pens of Armstrongite leaders or members who think they possess some insight into God and the Bible. What you read here is the up to date face of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy. It's the gritty and dirty behind the scenes look at Armstrongism as you have never seen it before!

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Why Did Herbert Armstrong Find Jesus So Embarrassing?

Chapter XI

HWA's EMBARRASSMENT WITH CHRIST

Writing in The Bulletin, June 3, 1975, pp. 293-294, Herbert
Armstrong explained a perplexing dilemma he had been facing:
“One thing has been a serious handicap, and caused me
and my touring team no little embarrassment. We have had
to say that we represent either Ambassador College, or
Worldwide Church of God.

“I am regarded as an Ambassador for WORLD PEACE.
But if I represent a CHURCH, immediately that shouts to
them ‘RELIGION!’ and that sparks prejudice and
competitive religious prejudice. If I try to get away from
appearing to be a religious crusader by representing
Ambassador College, they ask, ‘Where is this college? How
many students do you have?’ A college even with two
campuses, having enrollments of only some 500 to 700
sounds pretty small, compared to the universities all over the
world each with from 5,000 to 68,000 students.
“Christ has said we must be ‘wise as serpents, and
harmless as doves.’ Some weeks ago I authorized the
forming and incorporating of a new FOUNDATION,
named ‘The Ambassador International Cultural
Foundation. ‘ It is non-profit, dedicated to serving humanity
worldwide.

“Foundations, such as the Ford Foundation, the
Rockefeller Foundation, etc. are regarded with great
respect. I still mention Ambassador College, but also
explain that we have now formed this new Foundation to
sponsor our worldwide educational program for all peoples
at all levels. In time, we may, in this worldwide new
dimension of the Work, drop all mention of Ambassador
College, except as one of the associated institutions.

Furthermore, for accreditation purposes, it is necessary that
this phase of the Word be removed from Ambassador
College, as it now will be legally.

“Already, we are finding that this new Foundation is
giving great added prestige, credibility and favor. It is
something NOBODY CAN CRITICIZE! It carries no
RELIGIOUS connotation!”

Three years later, HWA was screaming about those who had
deceived him into going secular and intellectual! What could be
more secular and intellectual than founding another foundation
similar to the Ford Foundation? Interestingly, that organization’s
founder, Henry Ford II, separated himself from it a few years
ago, claiming it had entirely lost its direction, and he wanted
nothing more to do with it. And, I think, the Rockefeller
Foundation is well known to Americans for its humanistic
liberalism. But Herbert Armstrong craves association with those
types of institutions while he abhors having any connection with
his church and college! No wonder he refers to church members as
“dumb sheep.” What could be more revealing?

Also, while he himself was going international, seeking the
support of “all peoples of all levels, everywhere,” and while he
was actively seeking association with the “great and near-great of
this world,” he had the brass to write to the “dumb sheep:”
“SHOULD GOD’S PEOPLE TAKE ACTIVE PART IN
LOCAL COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES?” In his Pastor’s Report
of August 28, 1978, his answer is “No.” While he cavorts with the
“name people” as much as he possibly can, he wants the “dumb
sheep” to “sacrifice until it hurts” to further his work and his
work alone. It has never been HWA’s policy to give aid to local
communities via the local church there.

While Jimmy Carter discussed Christianity with the Chinese
leaders (Carter is not even a minister), Herbert Armstrong, who
professes to be a Christian minister, did not so much as mention
the name of Christ on his trip to China for fear of offending his
hosts. Herbert Armstrong seems to have no fear of offending
Christ. But remember, he is ashamed of religion. He would prefer
not to mention the “only name given under heaven whereby a
man might be saved!” Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall
confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father
which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him
will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Matt.
10:32-33).

Herbert Armstrong has an unusually strong desire to walk
among the great of this world. In May of 1978 he wrote to his coworkers
that he and Queen Elizabeth of Britain were going to cohost
an important premier of a charity motion picture in London.
The Queen’s staff at Buckingham Palace replied they had never
heard of Herbert Armstrong. There was embarrassment all
around. HWA’s boast just was not so. But that is the way he
thinks. He so desperately wants to mix in important circles of
“this world.” One would be hard-pressed to explain what a
religious leader who has taught the things Herbert Armstrong has
taught would be doing sponsoring such a motion picture in the
first place.

Herbert Armstrong was not ashamed to be photographed
with his friend, President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, who was
involved in the massacre of British people and cannibalism during
the uprising there some years ago. He liked the picture and had it
put on the cover of some of his publications. He probably would
be photographed with the devil himself, if that would advance his
social position. But he must keep his sheep in line back home,
because they are his power base until he can do better. They pour
the money in.

Church members who worked in the expensive new auditorium
in Pasadena began to speak out when concerts of all kinds began
to bring in entertainers and support crews right out of
Hollywood. These crews were not “born-again Christians” by
any means. They run the cross section of the entertainment
industry. In the eyes of religious people, that is not good. Here,
right in what Herbert Armstrong had called “The House for
God” when he was soliciting funds from the membership, were
technicians and others who took God’s name in vain as a matter
of course and others who talked “homosexual talk” while among
our people. On at least one occasion, members were rushed out of
the auditorium after Sabbath services while it was still the
Sabbath in order to get it ready for a performance that evening.
Why? Well, HWA was busily removing the stigma of representing
a church and a college in order that he might be well spoken of
among the New York and Beverly Hills set.

25 comments:

itstimecog
said...

I have proven conclusively that Herbert Armstrong was without a doubt, the "man of sin", "son of perdition" of 2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;.His influence carry's on to this day not only through and in the various COG organizations but ironically, in blog's such as this.Alas, the fight we endure against Satan will continue until Christ returns.

Seems to speak for itself, and very eloquently at that. There isn't a heck of a lot that I could add by way of comment.

There are those who believe that at some point Herbert Armstrong "left" his own church. I believe he outgrew the confines which he had established for himself, and reverted to the original goals to which he had aspired as a young man, pre-COG-7. In so doing, he found himself needing to lead a dual lifestyle, one as the end times "Elijah" leading the WCG, and the other as this jet-setting, secularized "ambassador for world peace" who needed to be loved and respected by the rich and powerful of the world, even to the exclusion of Jesus Christ.

Point is, he could never have been one of the two witnesses whom Revelation describes as trumpeting the message even to the point of their own violent deaths. Not even close. When it came time for him to live up to what we were told he was, he ignored that lofty goal and superceded it with his own self-aggrandizing dream.

I somehow don't think Herbert who's been dead for thirty years is THE man of sin. Some could strongly argue that garner ted was as bad if not worse. The is a big bad world out and it's only going to get worse for the real man of sin.

The school of thought i believe that without Loma armstrong influence, Herbert had a wobble after her death. A wobble that with access to much power and wealth resulted in man made monuments, man inspired travelling, carnal asperations. And only God knows what sins. Whether Herbert in his very latter years came back to his senses, whether God himself sent Herbert signs, odd dreams ect people innocently saying things under inspiration from God Almighty ect only God Himself knows.

The 'whoever shall deny me before men' refers to Christian conduct. It's means people are to live by the ten commandments before others. It does not mean publicly verbally professing ones religious beliefs. Christ many times hid both his person and his beliefs. Everyone has a right to privacy. In fact I regret having told people my religious beliefs. It just resulted in unwarranted attention and persecution, a drain on my resources.

HWA didn't 'leave' his church, since he never embraced bible morality. He was trained in capitalist advertising, but decided to follow Stalin and Mao. He even had all the church men wear neo Mao blue suits. Instead of trade, which he knew was Gods way, HWA taught commie 'spreading the wealth around' via his 'give way' guise. He even tried to manipulate God to return in 1975 in order to cover up the failure of communism. That is the true story behind the predicted 1975 second coming. The man is a traitor to Christianity. He will not be in the first resurrection. His worshippers can weep and gnash their teeth.

The above mentions HWA having a wobble after Lomas death. I've noticed the same thing with Gerald Flurry since Barbara died. When Barbara was alive she could be spotted all over Edmond on her bicycle. She loved yard/garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores. Many times the phone would ring with her calling about a sofa or piece of furniture that someone was selling and would I be interested. Once she died it seemed that's really when GRF took a turn and started spending money like mad!GRF went so over budget with the Auditorium and then would scream at us during sermons that our hearts weren't in the work because the Building Fund was low. It wasn't low, we all fulfilling our pledges, but he over spent every time something new and sparkly caught his eye.Now he wants a plane! And why did they just redo and reprint HWAs autobiography?

Your posted Meme read: "I bet you won't share this because you are too embarrassed to have Jesus on your wall."

When did He pose for that photo? Is that what He looks like? I guess that had cameras during His time on earth that we did not know about.

I wouldn't have that meme on my wall, but not because I am too embarrassed, but for several other reasons. 1.) We do not know what He looked like, so any image/photo would not be a true representation. 2.) There were no cameras in those days, so the photo is obviously a fake. 3.) There are no pictures/drawings/etchings of Him in the Bible, so we do not know what He looked like, other than the written descriptions (some about His glorified state), and those do not paint a picture whereby everyone can figure out exactly what He looked like (His actual features); 4.) He told us not to make any images of Him or anything else for objects of worship -- Exodus 20: 4-6 -- "4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

I don't believe that the wobble was caused by Loma's death. It was probably caused by the exposure of the incest. After that, HWA simply sought out the people whose respect he really craved, none of whom would have even heard of the incest. The WCG itself was not big enough or pervasive enough for internal scandals such as this to reach Kings and dictators.

"He told us not to make any images of Him or anything else for objects of worship...."

That's what we are told, as per your following qualifying scripture ie.Exo.20:4-6.However, such an admonition does not prevent us from keeping old photographs of family, friends and locations that remind us of previous pleasurable experiences. They often restore pleasant memories.Such being the case, if I had a genuine photograph of Jesus I would have no hesitation in adding it to my photo album as a reminder of past and current aspects of a full and enjoyable life. As to hanging it up on a wall, I would think twice about that. I believe that once was enough, even if it wasn't a wall.

Exposure of the incest.... like Herbert gave a damm about that.Oh he may have repented and stopped but the armstrong dynasty were very much of their time obsessed with sex. Let's get real,Herbert and his family came from a poor background, whether their "poverty" was due to alcoholism, mental problems or just plain lazy ness only God knows. Even dressed in his fine suits and esting off Gold plates Herbert and garner ted with their spats and jealousies of each other could never quite escape their dysfunctional poor background.

5.33 AM Up until the 1970s, men were required to wear dark blue suits, and a white shirt. Church photos show this. They also had to wear short back and sides, neo military haircuts. This was part of the commie-collectivistic culture of that era. The church members did everything together, with the expectation that they would walk march together as a group into the kingdom. You had to be a dynamo at that time. Asking old timers will confirm this. This extremism was abandoned when God stopped adding to the church. Herbie tried to manipulate God, by implying that if He didn't return in 1975 as predicted by Gods 'leader,' God would then look foolish. A childish attempt, but a attempt never the less. And yes, God is an economic boost, an stimulus package. This is why people have a relationship with God. God blesses those that please Him in all areas of their lives, including economically. Profit through trading with God is the name of the game, a stimulus package in all areas of life. Live long and prosper. Oh yes, the sadists and killjoys can weep and gnash their teeth.

Trading Guy said, "5.33 AM Up until the 1970s, men were required to wear dark blue suits, and a white shirt. Church photos show this. They also had to wear short back and sides, neo military haircuts. This was part of the commie-collectivistic culture of that era."

Your interpretation is pure unadulterated horseshit. The fashions you describe symbolized the business world, the hallmarks of capitalistic enterprise. Corporate life of the era demanded rigid conformity, and it was the corporate model that HWA zealously followed, except he followed it to an exaggerated degree. Corporations such as ConAgra or British Petroleum are structured for the purpose of organizing workers to use actual physical tools to bring in the earth's resources, turn them into useful products, and distribute them to people who can buy them. The corporation extracts as much of that wealth as possible from the workers and redistributes it to shareholders and to officers at the top of the corporate hierarchy.

HWA ran a hypercapitalistic operation. All his cultural loyalties and ambitions lay with the business class, and he accordingly distributed wealth to the top of the hierarchy. The difference was that he extracted that wealth from working people without ever organizing them to produce any. A pure parasite.

During the time you mention, the fashion affected by commie sympathizers was entirely different. It might be based on Cuban revolutionary dress: olive drab military surplus. Alternatively, or in combination, people might wear outlandishly mismatched psychedelic outfits. No Ambassador College student could have gotten by with dressing like that.

The Communist system uses different pretenses and organizing principles, but the result is similar. It extracts wealth from workers and redistributes it to those at the top of the party hierarchy. As Soviet comedian Yakov Smirnoff said, "It's easy to tell the difference between capitalism and communism. Capitalism is one group of people exploiting another group of people. Communism is just the opposite." The advantage capitalism holds is greater efficiency. As a friend of mine said who had made his way out of Communist Bulgaria to this country, "Our saying was, 'We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.'"

"Anonymous Anonymous said...Its supposed to be, Anon 8:52. The joke is that people would post that to their wall en masse to show off their religiosity, not noting that its actually a Star Wars actor in costume.

Which, in reverse, worked on you, since you spewed all that text to show us how righteous you think you are.

June 10, 2016 at 9:28 AM"

Tsk, tsk. I knew that it was someone in a Stars Wars get up. But it was intended to represent Jesus Christ. Just as many, many people post many many images that they profess to be of Jesus Christ.

The main point of what I posted was just that. No one knows what he looks like and no one should be posting any "photos", etc. claiming them to be of Him, if one believes the scriptures (if one does not, and one thinks that is what He looks like, that that is up to the individual).

You wrote: "you spewed all that text to show us how righteous you think you are." How do you know how righteous I think I am. Are you a mind reader? Do you know my heart? Any righteousness anyone has comes from the Holy spirit within them -- it is not their own righteousness, and anyone who says they are righteous doesn't understand that or scriptures. I posted scripture. If you are anyone else do not believe scripture, then that is not my problem.

The Meme said: "I bet you won't share this because you are too embarrassed to have Jesus on your wall."

Well, I was answering the meme. And, I would not be embarrassed at all to have Jesus on my wall, if there were actual images of Him to post, and scripture did not forbid it. That has nothing to to do with how righteous I think I am. (The thought of righteousness never even crossed my mind, nor was even mentioned in my post.) Actually for you to even make that statement smacks of self-righteousness and is very judgmental (which is what a lot of non-Christians accuse Christians of being). If scripture offends you, that is not my fault. If you don't believe scripture that is not my fault. I have nothing against you, and personally I do not care whether you agree with the Bible or not. That is entirely up to you and you have a right to your opinion. I do not condemn (judge) you for it. Everyone has free will. It is up to the individual to believe what he or she wants to believe.

However, I stand firm. I would not post or share any image (whether it be in Stars Wars garb or any other garb) on my wall that claimed to be a representation of Jesus Christ. Nor would share (and I do not share) any post that says "I bet you won't share this" (or any variation of that phrase) no matter what the subject matter is.